Tuduhan rasuah tiada kaitan dengan Taman Manggis...

BN hanya mahu penjarakan saya, tiada kena mengena dengan Taman Manggis...

Apabila Barisan Nasional (BN) dan Menterinya melancarkan “pendedahan” secara besar- besaran terhadap apa yang kononnya skandal rasuah saya kerana membeli rumah banglo dengan harga yang murah, mereka mengaitkannya dengan penjualan tanah kerajaan di Taman Manggis seluas 1 ekar untuk projek hospital.

Mereka mendakwa bahawa tanah tersebut adalah untuk golongan miskin. Walaupun Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang telah banyak kali mengulang bahawa Kerajaan Negeri Barisan Nasional (BN) sebelum ini yang ingin membangunkan tanah Taman Manggis secara komersial.

Ia sebenarnya tiada kaitan dengan pembelian rumah banglo saya kerana tanah Taman Manggis telah dijual kepada pembida tertinggi melalui tender terbuka yang kompetitif, BN masih meneruskan konspirasi dan serangan politik mereka.

Kedua-dua tuduhan rasuah terhadap saya akhirnya mendedahkan bahawa konspirasi politik Barisan Nasional (BN) dan pemimpinnya, terutama Menteri Di Jabatan Perdana Menteri Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan yang bukan sahaja pengecut dan pembohong, tetapi juga munafik.

Tiada sebarang tuduhan rasuah ke atas saya berhubung dengan Taman Manggis. Walaupun cuba untuk memperbesarkan dan mengugut supaya berdebat secara terbuka oleh Abdul Rahman yang akhirnya pengecut untuk melakukannya, tiada langsung hasil siasatan tanah Taman Manggis yang sekaligus membuktikan pembohongan BN.

Sebaliknya, saya didakwa untuk kesalahan rasuah yang tidak wujud dan sama sekali tidak melibatkan penjualan tanah Taman Maggis kepada KLIDC.

Saya berdepan dengan seluruh jentera Kerajaan Persekutuan BN yang mahu memenjarakan saya selama 20 tahun untuk kesalahan rasuah yang tidak wujud kerana meluluskan pengezonan semula sebidang tanah di Balik Pulau daripada tanah pertanian kepada tanah perumahan yang mana ia masih kekal sebagai tanah pertanian kerana Majlis Bandaraya Pulau Pinang (MBPP) telah menolak pengezonan semula kepada tanah perumahan dan tanah tersebut masih kekal dizonkan sebagai tanah pertanian.

Taman Manggis

Apakah rasuah atau faedah kepada pemilik tanah, Magnificent Emblem Sdn Bhd (MESB) apabila tiada sebarang faedah kerana tanah tersebut masih kekal dizonkan sebagai tanah pertanian?

Apabila MBPP menolak kebenaran merancang pada 1 Disember 2015, MESB tidak dibenarkan membayar yuran pengezonan semula untuk ia dizonkan kepada perumahan. Jawatankuasa Perancang Negeri (SPC) yang diketuai oleh saya tidak campur tangan untuk mengarahkan MBPP supaya mengezonkan tanah tersebut kepada tanah perumahan.

Di manakah faedah yang menyalahi undang-undang atau kesalahan rasuah? Namun demikian saya berdepan hukuman penjara 20 tahun sedangkan tiada kelebihan diterima MESB!

Berbeza dengan hutang RM50 bilion dari skandal 1MDB atau RM4 bilion skandal derma yang mana bukan sahaja jelas merupakan manfaat atau faeah yang menyalahi undang-undang tetapi dana awam telah digunakan, namun tiada seorang pun telah dihukum atau ditahan kerana rasuah!

Hanya rakyat Pulau Pinang tahu

Pembelian rumah banglo saya adalah melalui pinjaman bank dan elaun saya sendiri sebagai Ketua Menteri. Tidak seperti kes rasuah yang melibatkan Bekas Menteri Besar Selangor Mohd Khir Toyo yang mana penjual telah mengalami kerugian sebanyak RM5 juta, penjual saya mendapat keuntungan kecil sebanyak RM300,000.

Dalam kes Khir Toyo, penjual merupakan pemaju perumahan yang mempunyai hubungan perniagaan yang aktif dengan Kerajaan Negeri Selangor, manakala penjual rumah saya bukan merupakan pemaju perumahan dan tidak mempunyai hubungan perniagaan yang aktif dengan Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang.

Tidak seperti kes Khir Toyo, tidak ada paksaan atau pilih kasih yang diberikan kepada penjual rumah banglo saya. Malah Khir Toyo tidak ditahan semalaman, tetapi saya ditahan selama 1 malam di Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM).

Tidak ada sebab untuk saya tidak hadir ke mahkamah dan membuktikan saya tidak bersalah kerana BN pastinya akan mengatakan saya akan melepaskan dan melarikan diri.

Saya ingin mengucapkan terima kasih kepada parti saya dan rakan-rakan Pakatan atas sokongan mereka kepada saya dan keluarga saya dalam tempoh yang mencabar ini.

Saya juga ingin mengucapkan terima kasih kepada orang awam yang datang sendiri untuk menunjukkan sokongan dan saya terharu apabila ramai orang berbangsa Melayu dan India yang menangis dan berpelukan. Orang Melayu, Cina dan India ini tahu apa yang ingin dipertaruhkan oleh BN apabila memfailkan tuduhan rasuah kepada saya.

Rakyat Pulau Pinang telah mendapat manfaat daripada sumbangan wang di bawah Program i-Sejahtera Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang di mana RM100 diberikan setiap tahun kepada warga emas, ibu tunggal, orang kurang upaya dan suri rumah. Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang juga memberikan bantuan pukat kepada nelayan sebanyak dua kali setahun.

Di bawah program yang sama, Kerajan Negeri memberikan RM600 kepada pemandu teksi, RM100 kepada penarik beca yang berdaftar, RM100 kepada Pelajar Sekolah Rendah Tahun 1 dan 4 dan Sekolah Menengah Tingkatan 1 dan 4, RM1000 one-off kepada pelajar tahun pertama universiti awam, RM1000 one-off untuk khairat kematian dan juga RM200 one-off kepada bayi yang baru dilahirkan di negeri ini.

Lebih daripada RM400 juta telah diberikan sejak tahun 2008 atau 12% daripada belanjawan tahunan. Sumbangan RM400 juta yang memberikan manfaat kepada mereka ini merupakan lebihan tahunan yang direkodkan kerana kita mentadbir kerajaan yang bersih.

Rakyat Pulau Pinang tidak pernah mendapat apa -apa sumbangan daripada Kerajaan Negeri BN sebelum ini. Tanpa kerajaan yang bersih, hampir 200,000 rakyat Pulau Pinang tidak akan menerima manfaat ini.

Rakyat Pulau Pinang marah apabila pemimpin kerajaan yang bersih kini didakwa kerana rasuah dan sumbangan RM400 juta untuk program i-sejahtera terancam. Saya ingin memberi jaminan kepada rakyat Pulau Pinang bahawa Kerajaan Pakatan dan pemimpinnya adalah bersih.

Tuduhan ini adalah pembohongan jahat dan merupakan konspirasi politik untuk memusnahkan saya. Kami akan berdiri bersama-sama dan tidak akan berputus asa untuk meneruskan impian kami untuk menjadi model pentadbiran Malaysia (tanpa GST dan tol yang tidak adil) yang bersih, mesra rakyat berdasarkan tender terbuka dan bukan kroni. – Lim Guan Eng,Roketkini

Did The MACC Properly Investigate Lim Guan Eng's Corruption Case...

On June 29th, Penang’s Komtar complex got the most action it’s seen in years when a large crowd of people swarmed the building. Unfortunately, they weren’t shoppers but police and media who were there for Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s arrest by the MACC. At the same time, the MACC also picked up businesswoman Phang Li Koon for the same case.

If you remember, Lim Guan Eng was put under the spotlight a few months ago over his purchase of a bungalow that was allegedly almost 50% below market price as a favor for the Penang state government’s sale of a piece of land to a dental company in KL – a company that (no surprises here) Phang Li Koon has a financial stake in.

Lim Guan Eng is facing two corruption charges for abusing his power for personal gain while Phang Li Koon is facing a charge for abetment, a fancy term for being an accomplice. While the verdict on whether or not Lim Guan Eng is guilty of corruption still remains to be argued out in court, there were some really funny occurrences that have happened between the time of the bungalow issue and Lim Guan Eng’s arrest, occurrences such as….

The investigation was ALLEGEDLY almost dropped by the MACC

You should take this point with a very large grain rock of salt because there isn’t too much proof that this happened, but the theory is that the MACC initially recommended that the charges be dropped due to lack of evidence until Attorney-General (A-G) Apandi Ali stepped in to ask them to work harder.

While we don’t usually use unofficial Facebook posts as evidence (we’ll talk about Abu Kassim Mohamed’s resignation later), there might be a small little stain of truth to this because when the MACC handed the investigation papers (IPs) over to the Attorney-General’s Chambers on May 26th, they made the following statement:

“If Mohamed Apandi is satisfied with the evidence submitted in the IPs, then legal action will be taken accordingly. “On the other hand, if the MACC investigation is found not to contain sufficient evidence, then no legal action would be taken.” – The MACC statement, as quoted by New Straits Times.

On June 6th, A-G Apandi asked his department to return the investigation papers back to the MACC for further investigation:

The chambers have returned the investigation papers so that the MACC can conduct further investigations. We have also instructed that the investigation papers be returned back in the soonest possible time. – A-G Apandi, as quoted in The Star.

While this may be a comment on the MACC’s investigation abilities more than a Illuminati conspiracy theory, it was also recently revealed that…

A-G Apandi is personally leading the court case against Lim Guan Eng

Okay, so maybe we should give you some context here. You can read the full background in our other article, but the Attorney-General of Malaysia is basically the government’s lawyer as laid out in the Federal Constitution. So for example, if you murder someone, then it will be Country vs You or more specifically, the A-G vs Your lawyer. At the same time, the A-G also decides which of these kinda cases should be brought to court. And here’s where the problem is.

Because the A-G’s department was placed under the Prime Minister’s Office in 1980, it means that instead of operating independently/neutrally , the A-G is essentially working for the Prime Minister! This was something that became a topic of controversy when previous Attorney-General Gani Patail, who was involved in the 1MDB and RM2.6 Billion investigation against PM Najib, was suddenly removed from his post during the infamous cabinet reshuffle.

What’s interesting about this is that the Sarawak Report claims that Gani was very close to finalizing the charges against PM Najib; and his successor – Apandi Ali – cleared PM Najib of involvement in both cases.

This didn’t make A-G Apandi very popular with many people, especially the Malaysian Bar who tried to get him kicked out. So when A-G Apandi announced that he was leading the prosecution team to charge Lim Guan Eng, you can expect it didn’t go down well – not just with much of the public – but also with some other politicians giving some super pedas comments:

“I would like to congratulate the Attorney-General, as he has framed probably the most ridiculous charge not only in the history of prosecution in Malaysia, but the world.” – Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng’s daddy and DAP’s Secretary General, quoted by Free Malaysia Today.

“No AG would do a case of this sort, where the people are watching, unless he can secure a conviction. Not just the people watching, but his boss (PM Najib) too. After all this is an important case that if successful can propel AG to greater height.” – Zaid Ibrahim, former Law Minister, quoted by Malaysiakini.

So IF it’s true that A-G Apandi has some vested interest in the Lim Guan Eng case, the next question would be…

Can we trust the MACC?

Public confidence in the MACC’s ability to carry out their duties have been somewhat tainted by a number of scandals and questionable outcomes of their investigations over the years, such as:

1. The time they arrested their own officers – Police somehow lost the evidence and the officers were found not guilty.

2. The time they investigated a senior “Datuk” cop for a RM6 million laundering case – No arrests were made and the cop was transferred to Bukit Aman.

3. The time they investigated Sharizat’s NFC “cow” case for siphoning RM250 million – Sharizat was cleared.

4. The time they investigated Sarawak CM Taib Mahmud for 5 years with 30 officers – They couldn’t find proof or wrongdoing.

5. The time two people died under their custody – Teoh Beng Hock’s death was ruled a suicide while Ahmad Sarbani’s death was ruled an accident.

But to be fair, it isn’t as if the MACC aren’t doing their job – they’ve actually made a LOT of arrests over the years, with 841 in 2015 alone. You can view the records from 2011 onwards here.

In the case of Lim Guan Eng though, the criticism isn’t so much that the MACC aren’t doing their job, but rather that they are cherry-picking their cases by swooping down on Lim Guan Eng in a comparatively short period of time while not being as efficient or ignoring other cases of corruption by certain quarters within the government. 

In the most direct comparison, it took the MACC almost one and a half years to build up the case against former Selangor Menteri Besar Khir Toyo (who also bought a cheap bungalow) while Lim Guan Eng’s investigation was completed in under 4 months.

So where does this leave us, the MACC, and Lim Guan Eng?

For a time, it looked as if the MACC were really trying to be independent and impartial – first being removed from the Prime Minister’s Department and establishing themselves as an independent body, and enduring a number of setbacks such as having a senior official transferred to the Prime Minister’s Department against his request, and being raided by Bukit Aman during the height of the 1MDB drama. During this time, there was a change in public perception, with many publicly supporting the MACC; with Lim Kit Siang and the rest of the Opposition leaders showing their support:

This may border on personal opinion, but it seems that the MACC is caught between a rock and a-ttorney general. Despite their recent independence, the MACC is still dependent on the A-G for any further course of action.

In a leaked internal memo, MACC chief Abu Kassim Mohamed stated that he would rather retire than punish his officers for doing their job. He resigned on June 23rd, with his last day being on August 1st.

We think that at this point, the question of whether Lim Guan Eng is guilty of corruption or not is best left to the two major Malaysian courts – the legal courts and the court of public opinion. Whichever way you or the courts stand on the issue, corruption by public officials should be taken seriously… we just hope that it’s treated equally and fairly across the board as well. - cilisos.my

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cheers.